Legalization Of Marijuana And Hemp Research Paper
John Black
English
4/11/2011
Legal Regulation of Marijuana and Hemp
The concept of marijuana and hemp legalization has been heavily debated over the past 80 years. The current problem with marijuana and hemp in our country is that it is illegal, and proper legalization would be more beneficial than prohibition. There are many supporters of cannabis, and only a few who still oppose this movement. Since marijuana's first recorded use dating back five thousand years ago, it has never gained much popularity until the last century with prohibition and antiwar movements. Now propositions to legalize the plant have risen and been subject to controversy and heated debate.
Even though the government has portrayed marijuana as a harmful substance …show more content…
It was first made illegal on an unjustified basis by the wrong people. The real reason cannabis was made illegal in the US, late 1930s, and still remains illegal today in the US and UK is because its counter-part, Hemp, is a major threat to major corporations, wood and cotton in particular. Hemp itself has a large variety of uses, including paper products and clothes. The legalization of industrial hemp would provide solutions for many of the world's most critical issues. Industrial hemp would create jobs, nourish and clothe people, build houses and reduce our dependence on forest products. Prohibition has been a unique and repeatedly failed attempt to regulate things considered harmful by the government. “Government ties is really why the government lies” – Immortal Technique. This quote from Immortal Technique, an American rapper, sums it all up. Common Misconceptions about marijuana are set up by high end government officials who think only of themselves and their own prosperity. For instance few people know the history of marijuana and the means by which it was made …show more content…
The act itself did not criminalize the possession of cannabis but put a tax on anyone dealing the substance. Harry Anslinger, the man who proposed the Marihuana Tax Act, was also a CEO of DuPont, and would have lost millions had marijuana not been taken out of business. By the mid-1930s Cannabis was regulated as a drug in every state, including 35 states that adopted the Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act. In the 1970s, many places in the United States started to abolish state laws and other local regulations that banned possession or sale of cannabis. The same thing happened with cannabis sold as medical cannabis in the 1990s. All this is in conflict with federal laws; cannabis is a Schedule I drug according to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which classified cannabis as having high potential for abuse, no medical use, and not safe to use under medical supervision. Multiple efforts to reschedule cannabis under the Act have failed, and the United States Supreme Court has ruled in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Coop and Gonzales v. Raich that the federal government has a right to regulate and criminalize cannabis, even for medical
English
4/11/2011
Legal Regulation of Marijuana and Hemp
The concept of marijuana and hemp legalization has been heavily debated over the past 80 years. The current problem with marijuana and hemp in our country is that it is illegal, and proper legalization would be more beneficial than prohibition. There are many supporters of cannabis, and only a few who still oppose this movement. Since marijuana's first recorded use dating back five thousand years ago, it has never gained much popularity until the last century with prohibition and antiwar movements. Now propositions to legalize the plant have risen and been subject to controversy and heated debate.
Even though the government has portrayed marijuana as a harmful substance …show more content…
It was first made illegal on an unjustified basis by the wrong people. The real reason cannabis was made illegal in the US, late 1930s, and still remains illegal today in the US and UK is because its counter-part, Hemp, is a major threat to major corporations, wood and cotton in particular. Hemp itself has a large variety of uses, including paper products and clothes. The legalization of industrial hemp would provide solutions for many of the world's most critical issues. Industrial hemp would create jobs, nourish and clothe people, build houses and reduce our dependence on forest products. Prohibition has been a unique and repeatedly failed attempt to regulate things considered harmful by the government. “Government ties is really why the government lies” – Immortal Technique. This quote from Immortal Technique, an American rapper, sums it all up. Common Misconceptions about marijuana are set up by high end government officials who think only of themselves and their own prosperity. For instance few people know the history of marijuana and the means by which it was made …show more content…
The act itself did not criminalize the possession of cannabis but put a tax on anyone dealing the substance. Harry Anslinger, the man who proposed the Marihuana Tax Act, was also a CEO of DuPont, and would have lost millions had marijuana not been taken out of business. By the mid-1930s Cannabis was regulated as a drug in every state, including 35 states that adopted the Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act. In the 1970s, many places in the United States started to abolish state laws and other local regulations that banned possession or sale of cannabis. The same thing happened with cannabis sold as medical cannabis in the 1990s. All this is in conflict with federal laws; cannabis is a Schedule I drug according to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which classified cannabis as having high potential for abuse, no medical use, and not safe to use under medical supervision. Multiple efforts to reschedule cannabis under the Act have failed, and the United States Supreme Court has ruled in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Coop and Gonzales v. Raich that the federal government has a right to regulate and criminalize cannabis, even for medical